J'in J^merican IC/oman's 



!Plea for Sermany 



^ 



--BY— 



jVeien iSartlett i^rid^fman 



Reprinted from The Standard Union, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 



% 



THE FATHEMiAND 

New York 
1915. 



TEN CENTS 



J^n J^merican Tl/oman 's 



!Plea for Sermanj/ 



— BY— 



jffeien i^artiett ^ridaman 



Reprinted from The Standard Union, 
Brooklyn, N. Y. 



TPTF FATHERLAND 
New York 
1915. 



Comrades. ^^^ 

By RICHARD HOVEY 
(1865-1900.) 

Comrades, pour the wine to-night. 

For the parting is with dawn. 
Oh, the clink of cups together. 
With the daylight coming on! 
Greet the morn 
With a double horn. 
When strong men drink together. 

Comrades, gird the sword to-night. 

For the battle is with dawn. 
Oh, the clash of shields together, 
With the triumph coming on! 
Greet the foe 
And lay him low, 
When strong men fight together. 

Comrades^ watch the tides to-night, 

For the sailing is with dawn. 
Oh, to face the spray together. 
With the tempest coming on! 
Greet the sea 
With a shout of glee. 
When strong men roam together. 

Comrades, give a cheer to-night. 

For the dying is with dawn. 
Oh, to meet the stars together. 
With the chill mom coming on! 
Greet the '^nd 
As a friend a friend. 
When strong men die together. 

— The Standard Union, July 8, 1893. 






HOOK CREEK W IHE ill. 



September 9, 1914. 

A stirring wind from the sea, after days of hot breaths out of the 
West, made us sniff expectantly. It was Hook Creek of the salt 
marshes, its quiet winding tidal stream from Jamaica Bay an old 
friend, and the hospitable inn of proved excellence. 

The man deposited his green corn and I a bunch of war news, at 
which he frowned, for he knew I was giving aid and comfort to the 
enemy, since he himself, like so many other deluded journalists 
in these benighted States, upholds the Allies in their three-to-one 
unholy war. Not that I mind France so much, foolish as she is to 
hang on through half a century to her "revanche," when Alsace and 
Lorraine were Teuton properties long before they were French; or 
Russia, with a bizarre charm all her own, not the least of which is 
a virility only a shade less intense than that of Prussia itself, and 
besides she is in real need of a south water; but England, always a 
blooming hypocrite, forever prating of her "honor" when she's out 
simply for No.l, and now stirring up the dark races against the white; 
England, eaten up with jealousy in her declining power, who will pro- 
long the war indefinitely if not restrained, is beyond redemption. 

Singular, with our big German citizenship which hitherto we have 
valued so highly, in its strength, its scientific advance and its 
reliability — this attitude of the journalistic mind! It seems only 
yesterday that Great Britain had difficulty in getting from America 
anything like fair play. Less than thirty years ago, when in niy salad 
days I fought battles against fearful odds for John Bull, feeling that 
prejudice was carried too far, American dislike of England and the 
English was a real and vital thing. We could not forget her various 
attitudes in the past: the days of the Revolution, those of 1812, and 
worst of all, her treacherous conduct in our Civil War, when Ger- 
many helped us. No wonder the latter is dazed at this present temper 
in one she thought her friend. To tell the truth, she has more 
friends than she realizes, among women not less than men, and of 
American stock, too, but they are not as a rule editing newspapers. 

The reasons for the general craze are such as these: (1) ready 
acceptance of the fairy tales sent via London, Brussels and 
Paris to the press, when Germany, to her great credit, was not talking, 
but sawing wood; (2) the theory that this is a dynastic war, the 
German Kaiser the chief culprit, misleading his loyal subjects, who 
otherwise would set up a lovely republic, with hostility to all enter- 
prise and big business, such as we know something about here; (3) 

3 



boundless faith in the republican "idea" which, despite radical dif- 
ferences of conditions and topography, Americans are convinced 
should be imposed upon every community on the globe; (4) enthrall- 
ment by the strictly diplomatic evidence of the White Book, 
ignoring important happenings of the sub rosa variety that had gone 
before; (5) the violation of the neutrality of Belgium, though we 
would not hesitate to do the same thing were we in the same fix. 
Germany hears all this and much more and says at once : "Why, our 
good friend has been imposed upon. She must be set right. We 
will tell her the truth." 

She might as well talk to the whirlwind. Straightforward Ger- 
many is the last one on earth to cope successfully with a 
lusty campaign of lies, even the most obvious and grotesque. Noth- 
ing, nobody, can manage that sort of thing effectually save Time. 
That Germany eventually will be vindicated, that in the comparatively 
near future all things will be made plain, there can be no question, 
but for the present she must have patience. It is a veritable Peary- 
Cook affair over again, except that in 1909 everybody howled with- 
out the slightest understanding of either men or measures, while now 
there is a wide scattering of that little knowledge which is a dangerous 
thing. Then, as to-day, the sympathy of the mass of people turned 
instinctively toward what was considered the under-dog, the "poor 
boy from the country," who was "up against" a distinguished officer 
of the United States Navy, just as "poor France" and "poor Belgium" 
against the Kaiser is the cry now. Yet Peary was the under-dog him- 
self for some long months, as the German nation now battles with 
half a world. 

"If she wins — but she can't win — the Kaiser will lose his throne," 
they argue. "Why, if Germany should win against them all," and 
a look of awe creeps into their eyes, "her head would be turned." 

I believe she will win against them all, and not lose her head 
either ; she is too fundamentally sound for that. She will win because 
such courage and faith, allied to the highest force and skill, the power 
that moves mountains, a power acquired in years and years of thor- 
ough method and intelligent effort, cannot fail. Also when womanly 
women, not less than Kaiser and men, give their best to a common 
cause. Heaven itself must hear and answer their prayers. 

War is hell, but there are dangers in peace. Souls have a way 
of growing in stress of battle as never in luxurious ease. Moreover, 
we should judge none exclusively by our own standards. If men of 
action, if rulers of nations, could be as cocksure of anything as the 
editorial mind is of everything, what an ideal world this would be! 
With wide spaces, two oceans, weak neighbors and a heterogeneous 
population, an easy-going republic may be for us exactly the thing, 
while Germany, hemmed in by hostile frontiers, might need above 
all else an empire and a strong arm. 

Lucky for her, as it, turns out, that King Albert of Belgium had 
no common sense. A great, growing nation, expanding commercially 
with marvelous force and rapidity, thanks to beneficent conditions 



which do not obtain just now in America, is without one Atlantic 
port. Had the Belgians, egged on by England and France, not spilled 
blood, Germany might have waited for her "place in the sun" an- 
other century. That she may keep what she has gained at a high 
cost to her in life and treasure is the hope of those who wish her well ; 
of the many who, like myself, possess not a drop of German blood — 
only a vast resF>ect and admiration for Teutonic energy, progress, 
brains and, above all, candor and sincerity. 



1 IE MD ITS MOML? 



September 28, 1914. 

If one may indulge in a little gossip these sad days, here is 
something about Winston Spencer Churchill, First Lord of the 
Admiralty, whom many consider responsible for the English end of 
the war. It was in his youth, when he wasn't first lord of anything, 
1901 to be exact, that on a visit to America he stayed a week or two 
in Minneapolis as the guest of a gentleman who had a weakness for 
celebrities of all kinds. So it came about that Lady Randolph 
Churchill's son and a noted English author, who happened to be my 
friend, were thrown together in this Minnesota home, a plain, demo- 
cratic establishment where dinner was served at 6 :30 and always on 
time. 

Not on time for Churchill, however. He used to stride in at 
any old hour after 7, go to his room, take a bath, dress and descend 
whenever he felt like it, while the disgruntled servants served him 
as best they could. Invariably, my friend said, he treated his host 
in the most supercilious manner, openly found fault with whatever 
was not to his taste, at the same time thriftily staying on rather than 
go to the expensive West Hotel. He did not hesitate to criticise 
everything to the one other guest, and altogether, as his own coun- 
tryman put it, after Minneapolis was mercifully relieved of his pres- 
ence, proved "a regular bounder." 

Knowing this artless expression of his youthful personality one 
can quite understand the First Lord's announcement the other day, 
that "there will be no peace with Prussian militarism short of the 
grave" ; and that if the German navy does not come out and fight to 
suit England's convenience, "they will be dug out like rats from a 
hole." Rather funny, this, after what has recently occurred. 

How circumstances alter cases ! Do you remember a little while 
ago good people stalking up and down this land, crying out against 
the "Belgian Congo atrocities," as now the Belgians are accusing the 
Germans of the same things, while the press also plays a part dis- 
tinctly similar? Then, as now, the intelligent who made an effort to 
get at the truth of the matter disbelieved nine-tenths of the rumors. 
Americans familiar with the German army, its strict discipline, its 
exact training and high military standards, find the talk of any save 
legitimate reprisals for acts contrary to the rules of war equally 
unreasonable and absurd. It will be noticed that those who come in 
actual contact with this army, prisoners of war, refugees, neutral 
correspondents in the field and the like, tell a different tale. 

6 



One before whom was raised the question of fair play, concern- 
ing conditions of which we know practically nothing, nor can know 
much until the war is over, with research replacing accusation, said 
at last: "My objections all boil down to the violation of Belgium. 

1 can't stand that. I have no use for those who break their word." 
"Not if the national existence is at stake?" somebody ventured. 
"Not even then," said he. "When this war is over, if it is made clear 
that Belgium was practically a secret member of the Triple Entente, 
what then?" "Of course that would alter everything," he admitted. 
And stranger things have happened than precisely this. 

Another was telling of the outrages in German Poland, where 
men were treated like dogs, with no legal rights, not even in their 
own homes. Then how does it happen, was asked, that while many 
Russian Poles come over the border to work for the season in Ger- 
man fields, a not inconsiderable number of them, constituting nearly 

2 per cent of the German population, remain? People don't usually 
stay where they are not fairly happy and comfortable. So as to 
Alsace-Lorraine, where the man said similar conditions prevailed 
and that there was no political representation. While beyond question 
the peasantry through the two centuries of French occupation re- 
mained in language and customs almost exclusively German, in a 
narrow line close to the French border there are still old French peo- 
ple who never since 1870 have become reconciled; but families all 
the way from Switzerland to Luxemburg, some near Saarburg living 
for generations in the same substantial stone buildings dating back 
almost to Roman times, affirm that though the French have sys- 
tematically tried to keep discontent alive, the young people are 
enthusiastically German — are among the most devoted to the German 
cause in the present war. And if there is no political representation, 
how is it that the Abbe Wetterle, arrested and his property seized 
on the ground of high treason, was a member from Alsace-Lorraine 
of the Reichstag? 

Because of constant irritation over these provinces, further con- 
flict was bound to come, and the full ventilation of the subject may 
have a wholesome effect, may make for that real peace to which the 
French never subscribed. Few have realized during this long half 
century of French disgruntlement how absolutely unjustifiable it 
was. For, as we are all beginning to learn, now that we have 
refreshed our memories, Alsace-Lorraine, by inheritance and agree- 
ment, was continuously the property of the Germanic people from 
868 to 1648, when the peace of Westphalia, ending the Thirty Years' 
War, ceded a portion of it to France. The remainder, including 
Strassburg, in time of peace, was quietly gathered in by Louis XIV.; 
exactly as Roumania last year, while Bulgaria was treacherously 
beset by Greece and Servia, calmly "annexed" a contiguous slice of 
her richest territory. 

With Bulgaria is the keen sense of wrong denied our French 
friends, who merely were obliged to return to its rightful owner a 
considerable property, and nobody can get up much sympathy for a 

7 



nation weeping over the disgorgement of its own plunder. When 
the full story of Alsace-Lorraine is put before Germany's detractors, 
they at first refuse to believe it, but when confronted by encyclo- 
pedias and things, they finally declare it doesn't make any differ- 
ence anyhow! 

It does; if for no other reason because it brings out their own 
prejudice — their own "set" against fair play. So comes out the 
intense narrowness of their succeeding outcry against Germany's 
militarism, her only salvation at this juncture, though in reality the 
efficiency of her arms is but a small part of her national life and 
progress. America long has been at peace and the thought of war 
is hateful to her, as it is to all who live and suffer. Yet it may be 
thrust on her one of these days, from the Asiatic quarter if nowhere 
else, and she may be forced to eat her own words. 



HER LiniE DOPLICITIES. 



October 16, 1914. 

England is at her old tricks again, despite their transparence 
and certain detection. Her Galahad-like "honor" as to Belgium already 
is smiled at since Belgium's own Minister to Russia, M. de I'Escaille, 
in his private letter of July 30 to the Foreign Minister at home, 
showed that Great Britain already had agreed to support France, 
and indirectly Russia, thereby solidifying the Russian war party at 
least a week before there was a word about Belgian neu- 
trality. The way this important correspondence, delayed in 
delivery through the sudden German occupation, finally reached 
the German Government after a long sojourn in the dead letter of- 
fice is a story in itself. Of course all those intimately concerned 
knew the situation long before, the fundamental situation, but it is 
much to have the point verified by the enemy. More than one diplo- 
mat of the neutral States has characterized England's declared motive 
for war as "all nonsense"; only over here such things are swallowed 
bait, hook and line. It begins to look as if, outside business, we are 
the most gullible people on earth — which may betoken heart, but 
hardly intellect. 

English "honor" took the centre of the stage early in August. In 
due time came the first of the little exploits with German possessions. 
Peaceful Samoa was taken, of course without a shot. England imme- 
diately announced that she appropriated it, not because she wanted it, 
but because she thought the United States would prefer to have her 
there rather than Japan ! 

Next, after calling Germany all sorts of names, because neutral 
shipping was disturbed by floating mines in the North Sea, though the 
German War Office officially stated that all mines planted by them 
were close to the English coast or near their own quarters at home, 
England announces that she, too, "while deeply deploring," etc., must 
go and do likewise. Her exact words are: "The German policy of 
mine-laying, combined with their submarine activity, makes it neces- 
sary, on military grounds, for the Admiralty to adopt counter meas- 
ures." This on Oct. 2, which means, from her, that the mines already 
are laid; and, sure enough, on Oct. 3, Washington is informed defin- 
itely where they are. The description shows them to be, not in com- 
paratively safe areas like the Germans', but extending in a 
rectangle from Ostend to Ramsgate and from the mouths 
of the Scheldt as far as the entrance to the Thames. In other 
words, England has blocked the whole English Channel, except for 



one or two narrow lanes known only to English pilots. Nice state of 
things for America, with her neutral shipping seeking Rotterdam and 
Antwerp ; or any other nation trying to earn an honest living without 
dictation from Britain. Oh, for the smash of that British fleet! 

The mines are described as anchored contact mines in definite 
localities, accurately charted, etc., etc, ; in fact, just like the Germans' : 
warranted to blov/ up any vessel that touches them — only in a far 
more dangerous position for everybody. They will get loose, as mines 
do in rough weather, and they will destroy anything in their paths, 
whether laid by England, Germany or the Angel Gabriel. 

The French Minister of Marine, not to be outdone, announces, Oct. 
6, that the Austrians having laid mines in the Adriatic, the French 
fleet will do the same. But in order to avoid damaging neutral ship- 
ping, as have the Austrians, the French will lay their mines ac- 
cording to the rules of Chapter VIII. in The Hague Conven- 
tion of 1907. Neutral shipping, and often unneutral, seems to 
suffer just the same, no matter how the mines are laid, whether 
according to the Eighth Chapter of The Hague or of the Song of 
Solomon. 

It is all silly as well as sad; like children, very naughty children, 
"pretending" at a game ; only much sillier — for children do have imag- 
ination. I like the German way better, for it is masculine and it is 
honest; Germany does what she must, for her own security — and that 
is the end of it. No talk, no excuses, no pharasaic flubdub. The pot 
that calls the kettle black loses all its dignity; but the kettle seems 
neither unattractively black nor in the least ridiculous if it remains 
simply a kettle — not striving to make itself out a harp of a thousand 
strings or the glowing chalice of the Holy Grail. And since we are 
on the subject of the pot and kettle, have you noticed the one little 
joke in the midst of all this misery — the English are declaring the 
Germans have no sense of humor ! 

Apropos of the latest Japanese exploits at Yap and Jaluit, it is in- 
teresting to turn back to the hours of Aug. 11, when the British Official 
News Bureau issued the following, which in this form, practically, 
was sent to Washington: 

Great Britain and Japan, having been in communication with each 
other, are each to take action to protect the general interests in the Far 
East contemplated by the Anglo-Japanese alliance, keeping specially in 
view the independence and integrity of China as provided in the agree- 
ment. 

It is understood that the action of Japan will not extend to the Pacific 
beyond the China seas, except as may be necessary to protect Japanese 
shipping lines in the Pacific, nor in Asiatic waters westward of the China 
seas, nor in foreign territories except territory in German occupation on 
the Continent of Asia. 

A glance at the map shows Yap and Jaluit to be islands in the 
mid-Pacific, thousands of miles from the China seas, in fact uncom- 
fortably near our own Guam. Dear England makes no mention now 
of the hypothesis that we might feel easier were she so near, yet so 
far, rather than Japan. She is progressing since the antebellum days 
when her honor as to Belgium bade her go forth ! 



I 



The fact is we have not done with Japan yet, and for our own 
safety we'd better bear her in mind. Our high thinkers, scholars, 
doctrinaires and idealists, hypnotized by the formal British White 
Book, constructed solely for outside consumption, have missed the 
heart of it all, have failed to perceive the significance of hidden things ; 
such, for instance, as the Belgium Minister's revelation to his own 
Government, which in a few unaffected paragraphs discloses the real 
situation more truly than all the variegated "Books" that ever were— 
because it contains the one grain of truth in a spectacular diplomatic 
world. So as to Japan: she should be keenly watched instead of 
trusted, and by the United States most of aU. We seem almost crim- 
inally ignorant about matters of common knowledge to nations less 
concerned. A little Boston publication called "Truth" contains more 
wisdom to the square inch on this grave subject than endless Congres- 
sional Record tomes: 

Japan has put her big neighbor. China, on her knees: she has driven 
Russia back into Asia; she is now driving Germany out of the East; and 
when she is ready she will strike us. Our Philippines are within striking 
distance of Japan; she can deliver her blow with army and navy inside ol 
two days; her potential armies are already in Hawaii; and we are depend- 
ing on luck and friends to supply what our neglect has deprived us or. 
Our canal is still unfortified; our fleets are on the Atlantic; our Pacinc 
possessions, like our Pacific coast, are practically defenceless; and we re- 
fuse to make our army a respectable force and waste our money in the 
sink holes of the South. 

"Truth" says, moreover, that while we think little of our Pacific 
possessions now, some of us being glad to give them away, we would 
all fight like wildcats if they were taken from us by force. And 
what could be more true, at least to those who know Japan and 
the Japanese well, than these words : 

The best way to keep Japan pleasant and peaceful is to provide a well- 
equipped army and navy, big enough and efficient enough for all emer- 
gencies Then the painful and bitter grievances she has against a big, 
fat, rich, unprepared country will be mere trifles between well-armed, 
well-equipped friends. A country like America, that has a long tongue and 
an uncivil one, should have a long sword, a long purse a.nd a long memory; 
and she should keep her eyes open. 

Japan Is a nice, smooth-spoken, amiable, courteous country, but as a 
natter of taste. I prefer to walk behind and not before her. 

Yet the President is not alarmed; is indeed "entirely satisfied" 
with Japan's assurances as to the Pacific seizures — good man that 
he is. 

How many of those reading the recently published private letter 
from an Italian, a Milanese, who understands the causes and motives 
of the war exceedingly well, can resist the impulse to join him in this 
eloquent tribute to Germany : 

I feel myself against the tide of public opinion, and I shall thus re- 
main. For rrie that nation that has left such a deep impression on all fields 
of human endeavor; that has done what she has done in fifty years of life; 
this nation that is fighting as she is fighting, almost single-handed, against 
all the rest of the world implacably coalesced to wreak her utter destruc- 
tion; and that is finding in herself strength and virtue to avert, still vic- 
toriously, all blows directed against her from all quarters of the globe by 
the hosts of her enemies; that nation that is facing without flinching the 

II 



unirersal execration; for me that nation, that German people, is worthy of 
resDect! *- ^ i ^ 



She is worthy of far more. In the midst of this latest and great- 
est of her hard-won triumphs, she should command the highest regard, 
as she does, from all who possess sympathy and understanding! 
Henceforth her hands should be upheld by all who are not blind; by 

all save those who in their sharp selfishness are bent upon her ruin 

the ruin of the one military power which seems living up to a glorious 
if stem ideal. 



12 



"GO TO- 




!! 



October 27, 1914. 

Dark things in the human heart crop out every hour. At a 
dinner the other day, in the midst of mixed opinions, a pretty 
young woman clenched her fist and in shrill tones declared she 
would go forth and kill the Kaiser. Before this, apparently decent 
male persons were circulating unprintable "facts," bearing false- 
hood on their face, of this man who, in the full blaze of the 
light that beats about a throne, is personally as irreproachable as 
the best among us. The Emperor well can stand such 
vituperation, since it is deeds that count, not violent, vulgar words. 
For William II., by his broad patriotism and keen intelligence, in 
agriculture, municipal organization, manufactures and commerce; 
in the Empire's power to fight efficiently and defend itself at this 
juncture from six belligerent Powers, maintaining at the same time 
half a century of absolute peace — he, reviled and traduced and 
equally adored, has done for the prosperity of Germany more than 
any one man, hardly excepting Father Washington himself, for 
these United States. 

When we see the Interstate Commerce Commission still hesi- 
tating to accord the railroads a living wage ; see legislators all over, 
aided by a dense or indifferent public, conspiring against the brains, 
spirit and enterprise of the whole business world; see even the 
President amused rather than aroused over the cry for adequate 
national defense, though nothing could be better for our head- 
strong young Americans than two or three years of compulsory dis- 
cipline in the army — well, we might do worse than let the Kaiser 
lend a hand! 

Our own countr^r which with all its faults we do love still, 
seems never to doubt the absolute perfection of the republican form 
of government. Yet history shows over and over that progression 
is from republics to empires rather than the other way about; that 
democracies not less than autocracies rise, flourish, decline and 
depart according to Nature's law. While the remonstrance may be, 
"Those republics were not like ours," in all essentials they were: 
they were what the populace then desired — in some respects they 
were purer than ours. The masses did not possess the political 
force and initiative to demand and obtain what they have in this 
age of more people, more work, more pay; yet is this levelling up 
of the lower and down of the higher an unmixed blessing? A 
greater number may be better pleased with their place in life; but 
does it make for physical strength, moral beauty, spiritual insight, 

13 



or even plain happiness? What is a vast plateau without moun- 
tains ; what is life without something to look up to — something that 
appeals to the imagination? It is good for us to admire, to revere 
even, the shining peaks outside and above our small egos — to toil 
towards an ideal which we may never know. The United States 
of Europe sounds well enough, if you like the imitative ring, 
but in every great readjustment much; of value beyond price 
escapes. No national problem is simple, and he who believes mere 
change makes for righteousness, or the clutch at a dream for per- 
manence, is a fool. 

Our own Dr. Joseph Blake, with the American hospital in 
Paris, tells how admirable is the German field treatment of wounds, 
and mentions that, after the retirement to the Aisne, the French 
wounded left behind were found not only with their injuries at- 
tended to, but with crackers tied to their belts, so they would not 
starve. Of such kindly units is composed that wondrous bogey 
German militarism when discovered face to face away from its 
English lair! And what about British militarism, throttling right 
along, with its huge and meddlesome navy, all freedom on the 
globe ? 

The Rheims Cathedral also, the western portal, its chief glory, 
standing almost unharmed — though the wicked Germans did re- 
fuse to be mowed down for the sake of Art — seems bereft of its 
main sentimental appeal since visited by a practical architect. 
What is the use of a monument which declines to be the total 
wreck prescribed, or which meets trouble through its own military 
observers stationed in the old towers? The same as to Louvain, 
the ancient library lost in the flames through the flight of its own 
custodians, while the invaders worked heroically to save the beau- 
tiful Hotel de Ville, and did. Both men and women grow hysterical 
over these two monuments, unseen and unknown by the majority of 
them, while the destruction of the liberties of Finland the other day 
left them, and millions of others, perfectly calm! 

Would it be a surprise if after this war France and Germany 
should become good friends? Even to-day the fighting Teuton 
seems animated by a spirit not unsympathetic to his past foe, who 
these latter years has been much at the mercy of unscru- 
pulous politicians. When peace looms up, it might not be 
so difficult to readjust matters with her whose people and 
literature are complementary to Germany's own; or with Rus- 
sia, perhaps, the great primitive of vast ambitions, yet still 
a bulwark against the yellow peril — but England has her own 
designs, strictly selfish under a fair exterior, as usual. She seems 
looking for trouble just now. Even her impassioned friend, the 
N. Y. "Times," gets out of patience now and then, when the 
subject is trade Instead of morals. After noting the recent seizures 
by British cruisers, off our harbor, of American steamers under 
American registry flying the American flag; and hinting of the 
"difficulty" of United States payments in gold, these significant 
words follow: 

14 



If England will take our commodities in the volume she usually de- 
mands, the gold question will settle itself. If she will permit us to send 
our ships, unvexed by her patrolling cruisers, laden with grain and sup- 
plies of all kinds to Germany and Austria, we can transfer to her demand 
gold obligations upon those countries, which will take care of our adverse 
balance in London. 

A little comfort these trying times goes a great way; yet 
we may live to see even this small request flouted — and "per- 
mit" is good! Since when have we been wont to submit tamely to 
John Bull? With American trade, indeed all trade, practically at 
a standstill, thanks to England, why not let our own navy get busy 
and tell her to go to — Halifax! 



15 



mLLlCIES ABOUT THE WAR. 



November 14, 1915. 

From college presidents down to Christabel Pankhurst a singxilar 
moral obliquity seems to pervade the views of Italy's relation to the 
war. For a variety of reasons she can remain neutral, that is her 
privilege; particularly if she regards her allies, Germany and 
Austria, as aggressors — though how she can, with all we now know 
of both Russia and England for some years back, passes under- 
standing. But whether or not she is as ignorant as the United 
States of the evil plotting of Russia through Servia against Austria, 
with England ever on the alert to hit Germany along the way, as 
to one alternative there can be no reasonable doubt: if Italy joins the 
Triple Entente against the Triple Alliance, she is base. No defense 
of her in that event is possible; for her historic enmity toward 
Austria is no newer, no fiercer, at this time than when she gladly 
entered into that solemn compact, the advantages to her of which 
have proved far greater than to Germany and Austria. Her posi- 
tion, if her hesitation about keeping her word be true, is not envi- 
able ; nor is England's a whit more so — ^begging her to repudiate her 
plighted obligation. Italy cannot join the Allies without shame 
more than a man can marry a new wife without first freeing him- 
self from the old. 

Of all the idiocy afloat or ashore these days is there anything 
to compare to the fear of a German invasion of the United States! 
Something similar exists in the English panic over spies and 
airships; but there bombardment is at least a remote pos- 
sibility, though it seems unlikely that Germany will bother about 
London while the British fleet still floats — which 'tis to be hoped 
will not be for long. Anyhow, the English may be pardoned a 
bad attack of nerves such as their lusty ancestors would have 
laughed at, but we are making ourselves out nothing save a parcel 
of cowards or fools. Academic exercises prevail in the military 
departments of all countries, planning for every possible invasion 
of every other land. Once in a while these things, fathered by an 
ex-staff officer, an ex-attache or an ex-spy, generally a plain yellow 
journalist in disguise, get into print — whence all these fears and 
tears. 

On the strength of such rumors one affrighted Brooklyn 
matron, to my certain knowledge, discharged her faithful German 
chauffeur of long standing, at the same time threatening to dismiss 
her two excellent Swedish maids if they uttered one word in favor 

i6 



of the land their country loves. The idea seems to be that Germany, if 
victorious, drunk with power, will stagger across the Atlantic, lay hold 
of this unwieldy body politic of ours, and crush beneath her heel a 
people she has always liked, of whom a large proportion are of her 
own blood and brain, devoted to their adopted country not less than 
to the Fatherland, and to whom she has more than once proved a 
substantial friend, as we in return are the best of her customers. 
Have our men of courage and women of intelligence fled to some 
other land, or are we simply in need of a physician's kindly minis- 
trations? It would be too funny if it were not too sad for words. 
Here are a few pertinent lines on this very subject from a 
prominent German-American of New York and Brooklyn, highly 
valued both for his ability in a great business and for his patriotism. 
It is a quotation from a reply to an American college president who, 
without provocation, opened up on this invasion craze, asking 
where the German- Americans, in the event of Germany's final vic- 
tory (as to which he cries, "God help the world!"), would stand 
between America and the Fatherland. These are the educators, 
slaves of fear, to whom we intrust our youth at an impressionable age ! 
Extracts from the reply to the professor's verbal bombs follow : 

i 

1 will yield to no one my claim to being as good an American as there 
is, and a great deal better American, in spirit and in practice, than many 
of those to whom this country was unfortunate enough to give birth. 

If the true Americanism of anybody is being tested by the stand he 
takes on the question of the war between foreign nations, in which Amer- 
ica itself is in no way involved, then . . . ninety-five per cent of all Amer- 
icans should be banished for their alignment . . . with the natural 
enemy of the country and against the natural friend and supporter of it 
under all circumstances. 

After referring to the help Gens. Steuben, DeKalb, Herkimer 
and Muhlenberg gave us in our Revolution; and the walloping we 
were obliged to inflict upon England again in 1812; and reminding 
us that a very large percentage of the fighting men, from generals 
to privates, in our Civil War were of German birth, while England 
only harried the North and hoped for our disunion by the victory of 
the South; and also that the bankers of Frankfort in those dark 
days materially assisted us financially when England and France 
proved deaf to our appeals — this valiant defender of himself and 
all German-Americans rightly declares that German civilization 
"has done more to develop this country physically, materially and 
intellectually than all the other countries which Germany is now 
warring against combined." 

The N. Y. "Times," so extraordinarily Anglophile these days, 
actually sees something "heroic" in the capture of little Kiau-Chau. 
Its defense was heroic, a mere handful of soldiers, 3,000 against 
40,000, holding for two months two nations at bay; but the capture 
itself was the smallest, meanest incident of the war. A pity it is that 
our country ever dug up the Jap from his obscurity. What may 
not come from the rash opening of that Pandora box! But he is a 
congenial partner for Great Britain just now; England never is fas- 

17 



tidious as to methods so long as she "gets there." Russia, with 
the scent of Constantinople in her nostrils, seems a bit 
inclined at this moment to move by herself. Well, why not? She 
may yet, in the not distant future, be fighting England, who has 
often balked her. Perhaps she, like some of us, has been stirred 
by those burning lines of Lissauer's "Chant of Hate": 

French and Russian, they matter not. 
A blow for a blow and a shot for a shot; 
We love them not, we hate them not, 
We hold the Weichsel and Vosges-gate, 
We have but one and only hate, 
We love as one, we hate as one. 
We have one foe and one alone. 

He is known to you all, he is known to you all; 

He crouches behind the dark gray flood. 
Full of envy, of rage, of craft, of gall. 

Cut off by waves that are thicker than blood. 

And so on, fierce and terrible, almost a portent, moving men 
and mountains, to the end — and the end is not yet! 



is 



IGEL VS. DEVIL 



November 25, 1914. 

Are you one of those who want to kill the Kaiser? Do you thirst 
to pierce the Emperor's heart, to cut it into ninety-nine pieces and 
drink the blood thereof, because you believe that "all by his lone- 
some" he created this terrible war and is Satan in human form? If 
so, and you read nothing but the Anglo-French dispatches, what do 
you say to scanning a few lines by Ferrero, since he is handy in the 
current "Atlantic Monthly," is a neutral amidst the tumult of Europe, 
with rare opportunities for learning the truth, is considered one of 
the keenest of modern observers, and is in no sense pro-German. 
These are some of Ferrero's words : 

A very intelligent but very skeptical German said to me one day: "My 
friend, there is only one pacifist in Germany. It Is William II. But he can 
do nothing, because he ia the Emperor!" . . . William II. will have to 
shoulder before the world, aiid in history, the chief responsibility for the 
war. Yet those who know the secrets of political Europe are aware that 
he has been for twenty-five years perhaps the most active protector of 
European peace. . . Ky temperament, by a certain mystical tendency, 
by the sagacity of a statesman, William II. was, and wishes to be, an em- 
peror of peace. . . "History." he said one day to a French friend of 
mine on board the Hohenzollern during the regatta at Kiel, "history will 
grive me credit for this at least, that Europe has owed its peace to me." 

Yet, with all his astuteness, the Grerman Emperor even then, in 
time of the profound peace he had done so much to maintain, reck- 
oned without his host. How unreal the words, though absolutely 
true, look in the throes of this worst of wars. The public, and notably 
the press (for the two just now are by no means synonymous, en- 
tire sections of the United States, as well as whole neighborhoods 
and even members of families, being ranged against each other as to 
the true causes and merits of this tragic affair), must have its scape- 
goat. It is only another vivid illustration of the cynical truth Bis- 
marck voiced when he said if he found himself gaining popularity 
with the crowd he always was inclined to become suspicious of himself 
and doubt the justice of his own cause ! An excited democracy easily 
loses all sense of pro^'ortion. 

It is pretty well conceded by this time that Germany has had 
her grievances — for one, that her right to Alsace-Lorraine was long 
prior to that of France, and that in 1870 she was merely reclaiming 
her own. But not all know that at the Congress of Vienna, after 
Waterloo, where the Prussians performed such prodigies of valor in 
crushing Napoleon, and without whom England never could have 
won, Alsace-Lorraine was ceded back to Prussia. That this cession 

»9 



at that quarrelsome Congress was never ratified, and that many others 
were not till July 20, 1819, is neither here nor there. The point is 
that Prussia's claim to her ancient Germanic provinces was recognized ; 
and if it had not been for England, who in the person of Lord Castle- 
reagh steadily opposed all concessions, objecting to the compensation 
after appropriating the services; and to Castlereagh's secret alliance, 
on Feb. 3, 1815, with Metternich and Talleyrand, to combat all 
Russian as well as Prussian claims, it is highly probable that Alsace- 
Lorraine, torn from the weak German confederation in the seven- 
teenth century, would have played no part in the Franco-Prussian war. 
The American Cyclopedia of 1870, under head of Lorraine, p. 
660, speaks of a part of Lorraine "as a district ceded to Rhenish 
Prussia by the Treaty of Vienna of 1815." In Chambers' Encyclo- 
pedia of 1881, under Vienna, Its Treaties, etc., p. 792, comes this sen- 
tence: "At last it was agreed that Prussia should obtain . . the 
left bank of the Rhine as far as the Saar." And in the same edition 
of Chambers', under Alsace, p. 175, occurs this statement, which 
from an encyclopedia, and English at that, sounds almost human : 

In Caesar's time Alsace was occupied by Celtic tribes; but during^ the 
decline of the empire the Alemanni and other tribes from beyond the Rhine 
occupied and completely Germanized it. It afterwards formed part of the 
German empire, under various sovereign dukes and princes, latterly of the 
House of Hapsburg, till a part of it was ceded to France, at the peace of 
Westphalia, and the rest fell a prey to the aggressions of Louis XIV., who 
seized Strasburg (1681) in time of peace. . . Thus as the Germans com- 
plain, was a fine land, and one of the noblest branches of the race, alienated 
from the German people, and the command of the German Rhine disgrace- 
fully surrendered to the enemy in time of misfortune, and continued to be 
held by France until the close of the Franco-Prussian war. 

So you see things are not so simple as they seem. How many 
of this generation have realized that in 1870 Germany regained only 
her own? Her record beside that of the arch robber, England, is 
amazingly clean. And when you watch her direct methods in this 
war, as against the sinuosities of Sir Edward Grey, and realize fully 
what led up, for years as well as days, to the demolition of Belgium, 
you begin to suspect that Great Britain is no angel, nor Germany the 
devil the Allies would have us believe. They are all human or in- 
human as their interests are attacked or their passions aroused, but in 
our own outspoken republic there is something more akin to the 
frank honesty of Germany, strong enough at last to demand her place 
in the world, than to the sly determination of Britain, under her un- 
holy mask of idealistic platitudes, to keep everybody except her spe- 
cial tools down and out. For by their fruits, not their fine protesta- 
tions, ye shall know them. 

Fate has a way in wartime of playing tricks. Think of little Bul- 
garia, but a few months ago successively victorious, despoiled, pros- 
trate and now called the key to the Balkan situation! So far she is 
inscrutable, but the way she may jump, into the arms of Roumania, 
Turkey or Servia, is cabled every day. Yet it is safe to say that 
her great unselfish dream of a Balkan federation in the Old World 
similar to the United States in the New will not be realized, no 



matter how desirable she is found just now. She will never forgive 
Roumania until she recovers Silistria and the stolen province of 
Dobrudja; nor will Greece, to oblige the Allies, give her back Mace- 
donia; while Servia, she of the cloven hoof here as in the murder of 
the Archduke, Bulgaria would rather fight than eat. If she should 
join anybody, which likely she will not, wearied as she is with war, 
why not Turkey, who at least proved an honest foe, or Germany and 
Austria, who bound up her financial wounds when even generous 
America proved unsympathetic. 

The Powers by this time may be wishing they had not sustained 
the highwaymen last year at Bulgaria's expense; and to show how 
high and mighty are England's political morals, simply note that at 
this instant she is demanding of Italy precisely what Germany in far 
greater plight did of Belgium — to disregard an inconvenient if not 
obsolete scrap of paper! 



Fieme England's eimES. 



December 15, 1914. 

Nobody seems to realize that France, Russia and Japan and 
surely Belgium are fighting England's battles far more than their 
own. The British in France are a mere handful, and unless over- 
whelmingly victorious, what will France get out of it, or Russia, 
that each had not before? Dupes now, as a century or so ago, when 
the same old game was played in the same old way, only Prussia, 
too, was then one of England's catspaws — all afraid of Napoleon. 
Great Britain's main power in wartime always has lain in catspaws, 
otherwise alliances; the triumph not of strength, but diploro.acy — 
and for whose help she never pays. Look at Japan at this moment, 
her Parliament sour-faced, the Constitutionalists in the House of 
Representatives, 200 to 381, bent on a vote of "no confidence" in 
the Okuma cabinet, because it is going to turn over to England the 
Island of Yap, and Kiau-Chau to China, while the northern half of 
the Tientsin-Nanking railroad, hitherto under German influence, is 
demanded by England, to the future detriment of Japan, as it will 
form a great barrier to her along the Chinese coast. So what does 
Japan get in return for her much-critcised contribution to England's 
schemes and ambitions? Nothing, like all the rest. Yet nobody 
sees it in time, and gets "the lemon" over and over. 

The Germans should never again be accused of a lack of 
humor after prophesying that England will fight to the last French- 
man! Imagine Germany and Great Britain for one moment, at sea 
or on land, with odds even. In the Falkland Islands battle, it turns 
out, the British were substantially four to one! It is man to man 
that tells the tale. 

"It surprises me that America, to which we are bound by ties 
of friendship and blood as to no other neutral country; America, 
where millions of our people have gone and carried the German 
tongue and German ideas of liberty and freedom, should be so totally 
unable to put herself in our place." 

The Crown Prince, talking so unaffectedly with a reporter, is 
surprised only because he is young and a man. It is difficult for 
either a nation or a male to put itself or himself into another's 
place; it is too great a disturbance of the ego, which makes nations 
and men what they are. To woman oftener than to man is given 
the insight to feel another's travail of soul. The gift comes through 
the heart rather than the head and along the way that leads to tm- 
derstanding. With her, protestations count less than the vital truth 



which lies beneath. That, of all things, with the majority, seems the 
last thing either sought or desired. 

Gertrude Atherton, usually a clear thinker in politics, writes that 
the "first violent expression of feeling in this country was not anti- 
German, but the spontaneous protest of democracy against an auto- 
cratic power that could abruptly substitute the fourteenth century 
for the twentieth." While interesting from an academic standpoint, 
this notion has the demerit of not being true. The average man 
cares nothing at all about autocracies, democracies or plutocracies 
when he is up against live drama. Moreover, if the autocracy ques- 
tion obsessed him, what about Russia, or the British Foreign Office! 
America is nothing in a crisis about which she is little informed if 
not emotional. The shock and surprise of a great war in the un- 
expected quarter of her nice little tourist Europe, and upsetting her 
own affairs hardly less than the combatants', threw her off her base. 
She simply yielded to the only voice then speaking — the mendacious 
Anglo-French dispatches; to a great personal fear, and to joy in her 
own republic, the only spot left, it seemed, wherein dwelt peace and 
security. By and by, when she begins to digest a few pertinent 
facts, she may change her mind, as nations have been known to not 
less than women. 

Why should the United States seek, or even desire, to impose 
her principles of national life on another nation in conditions alto- 
gether different? Germany especially, as an example of the re- 
verse, might well say, were she sufficiently discourteous, that she 
deplores the waste, the confusion, the futility in many ways of our 
democracy quite as much as do we the discipline and rigor of her 
imperialism which, in economic matters pre-eminently, in encourage- 
ment of thrift and enterprise, in the careful making of laws and 
strict enforcement of them, is a guide for the whole world. A more 
stupid, destructive policy than that of the United States in 
regard to railroads and great business, the arteries and very heart of 
a complex civilization, was never seen in any land. A ban is put on 
ability and a premium on incompetence such as make our real friends 
weep, through the incessant compromises between what is econom- 
ically sound and what politically expedient. 

This hard truth the keenest minds within our own borders are 
unable to controvert, so why criticise other nations, working out their 
destiny in their own way? Thomas Edison admits German efficiency 
is a force to reckon with, but says he would rather live under our 
loose laws than enjoy all the privileges of that empire. Each to his 
taste; but when cocks crow and dogs bark in a crowded city at 3 
a. m., the watering of plants and shaking of dusty rugs is carried on 
in apartments at any hour and as tenants will, people spit on the 
sidewalk and throw banana peels broadcast, servants depart pre- 
cipitately or mistresses discharge unjustly, to say nothing of a 
thousand more big and little things, some of us at times who respect 
the rights of others long for a strong governmental hand. Still, in 
the last analysis, of course, there is nothing like our own country, 

23 



bound to us by a million ties, no matter how dense or careless she 
frequently may be, or how hasty, ill-digested and capricious in their ap- 
plication are her laws. 

The present talk about peace seems worse than futile. While 
it speaks well for tender hearts, appalled at the loss and suffering, 
it is safe to say there will be no peace till Germany punishes England, 
or is herself completely crushed, which seems unthinkable — so like 
the ardor of the first Christians is her faith in the righteousness of 
her cause. For who that is just can question Austria's right, if not 
duty, to call to account murderous Servia, or Germany's necessity to 
stand by her ally if Russia interfered? Talk till doomsday about 
this or that mobilization, this or that ultimatum. White Books or 
Yellow, you cannot get away from the fact that it was England and 
England alone who, seeing a brother in blood attacked by two foes, 
constituted herself a third, and thereby converted what might have 
proved but a slight misfortune into a prolonged tragedy. If America 
witnessed such a spectacle on the street, her sporting blood would 
instantly side with the one beset, no matter who in terror struck the 
first blow, but in the larger event full half her people seem distinctly 
unfair. 

The roots of this war go down into the very depths of national 
life and feeling. Can bitter grievances be settled at this stage of the 
conflict, no matter how senseless it may be declared, by a pleasant 
conference over a table? Many good people around here seem 
obsessed by this idea, among them those who believe the United 
States can defend its coasts with a smile. To court peace just now, 
with the two chief protagonists set on breaking each other's heads, is 
like offering the homeless and starving instead of bread and shelter 
a bunch of flowers. 





E. 



December 23, 1914. 



As the day of days draws near, how agonizing that so many 
Christian nations, and notably the two in which Christinas has a vital 
and hallowed place, are at each other's throats. This means a sad 
holiday for us all, since thoughts must wander across the ocean to 
the soldiers in the trenches, to the mockery of England's gifts and 
feasts, and to Germany, creator of the Christmas tree, where from 
one end of the Fatherland to the other are vacant chairs under the 
fragrant firs and heavy sighs. 

u ^.^^^'7^^^^ *^^^ ^^^ ^^ *^^ supreme tragedy, matters are not to 
be helped by preposterous editorials inciting the German people to 
rise against their own Government, as infinitely dear to them as our 
own should be to us. Sound enough on American questions par- 
ticularly those of a commercial nature, but strangely confused, to say 
the least, in its foreign outlook, no wonder the N Y "Times" 
IS thought to be one with its London prototype, the organ of English 
Utticialdom. A year ago it defended, even exploited, blind to all 
^uth and right, the abominable Greek-Servian conspiracy against 
liulgana Now it dares to ridicule the German naval spirit, a spirit 
whose glorious self-sacrifice, whose glad surrender in patriotic song 
to the Great Unknown rather than to the English enemy, thrills our 
own navy from admiral to midshipman. 

If the Hartlepool raid prompted this offensive thing let it be 
remembered that one quiet day in September, 1807, the British 
fleet suddenly descended on peaceful Copenhagen, bombarded the 
unfortunate town for three days, then left with public and private 
buildings destroyed and two thousand citizens dead. And as to the 
"rights'; of the Hartlepool affair, fair-minded Englishmen themselves 
are divided over it; their women, too, as private letters from "hom°" 
show. Hartlepool is a regular military station, Whitby also in a minor 
way while peaceful Scarborough disported a powerful government 
wireless, which certainly had no right to be where it was if attacks 
were undesired Yet England cries out for help to America like 
the spoiled child she often has seemed in this war among men— 
at the same time, with sanctimonious face toward the world, plotting 
hke the devil behind the scenes. 

Can it be that the "Times" sees no harm in these repeated as- 
saults on a friendly Power, and on her descendants who form an 
integrd part_ of this neutral land; can it be that it does not realize 
how the United States through its ministrations may easily become 
in more quarters than one cordially hated? Still, even so, we have 
always England, you know; England who loves us so dearly just now 

25 



— though Russia, it appears, is already under her breath stigmatizing 
her ally as "so selfish"! 

Russia, because of her calendar, as backward as her civilization, 
is out of it; and to France Christmas means little — New Year's all. 
France is far from a Christian nation in thought or feeling; in the 
predominance of the aesthetic over the religious idea, she is more 
akin to the ancient Greeks than to modems. Even her republic, com- 
pared to our democracy, is but a military oligarchy — for decades the 
army has been king. Germany, with all the cry about militarism, 
is in everyday life more a benevolent paternalism than a nation bent 
on war. Here is where the Kaiser and the socialists meet : in govern- 
ment ownership of public utilities, in amelioration of the lot of the 
workingman, in orderly betterment of simple domestic affair, in 
infinite detail for the common good. Into this sort of thing, for which 
the "people's friends" are clamoring right and left in our own United 
States, William II. throughout his reign has thrown hitiseir heart and 
soul. Each child of the empire, no matter how insignificant, is the 
Government's special charge, to be looked after, kept in health and 
trained for a useful life, that strong, effective men and women they 
may and do grow to be. 

But this is not the idea England has purveyed to us — this foster- 
ing care from youth to age. Rather we are told loudly and exclusively 
of the Mailed Fist; of that rattling sword, necessary for a nation so 
situated, but which form.s only a small part of the national existence 
— as if any nation could live, love, thrive and suffer on mere iron and 
steel! The monster conjured up by the government censored press, 
ably seconded by some misguided journals of our own, is but an 
added proof of England's determination to form and influence Amer- 
ican opinion of the various nations between whom and us she desires 
no inconvenient friendships. 

A conspicuous instance of such incessant machinations is Bel- 
gium. That harried land which under German rule may be more 
prosperous than ever before, and even now goes about its business 
with a cheerfulness we little dream, is depicted as in utter misery. 
No country in time of war, whether victor or vanquished, is pre- 
cisely normal, but letters from friends living there give a pic- 
ture very different from the lugubrious sensations reaching us via 
London. Neither alarming distress among the natives nor friction 
between them and their German rulers is the order of the day, while 
a large part of the country remains practically untouched by war. 
Wheat is scarce, thanks to British destruction of vast stores at Antwerp, 
as well as interference with neutral shipping; but there is no such se- 
rious privation as is depicted — unless the substitution of black bread 
for white, salted lard for butter, and a few things similar comes under 
that head. Meantime, the people of Poland are crying out to America : 
"Why give all to Belgium when we are suffering tenfold?" 

That many things favorable to Germany in Belgium are not al- 
lowed to pass the British censor is illustrated by a letter just 
received which takes for granted that we know what we do not 

26 



know. It is from an American woman and contains these significant 
lines: "How strange that nobody in America appreciates the patient 
effort of Germany, who is doing her best to care for the people she 
has conquered, for one thing in this wholesale movement to give them 
a Christmas, when her own people are suffering, too." The chief 
misfortune seems to be that the Belgians are debarred from industry 
in the arts and manufactures for which they are noted. They can 
work, but their goods cannot be turned over; cannot get out of Ant- 
werp safely to customers — again thanks to England and her warships ! 
One of Belgium's leading citizens, M. Franqui, complains bitterly of 
this, declaring that the Allies have injured them in one way more 
effectually than the Germans in another. 

And who is responsible for the suffering in Belgium if not 
foolish King Albert — bent on personal glory instead of his country's 
welfare. If ever a ruler knew he was leading his helpless people 
straight to destruction, it was this headstrong man. Hero, indeed! 
It is not of such that heroes are made, jeopardizing a nation of seven 
million souls for a treaty which the leading encyclopedias do not 
even mention! It has remained for England, expert in treaty-break- 
ing herself, to work that otherwise innocuous document for all it 
was worth. One inquirer asks: "If the treaty of 1839 guaranteed the 
neutrality of Belgium, why did England make new treaties in 1870, 
covering the same guarantee, and why was it stipulated that these later 
treaties should hold good only till one year after the war?" 

Yes, why? The question comes from a plain American busi- 
ness man, vice-president of a great construction company, to whom 
contracts mean much or exist not at all. It is a fact that this now 
famous document, which for thirty years had been unwept, unhonored 
and unsung, was taken out of its coffin by solicitous England when 
confronted by the Franco-Prussian war, dusted, examined, found want- 
ing and replaced by something more sure, till all danger to Albion had 
passed. So its enthronement now, a little higher than the Ten Com- 
mandments, a little lower than the Gospel, must be a surprise even to 
itself. 

Christmas seems strange indeed bereft of peace. With the smell 
of the green recalling to the warring nations past reunions, each per- 
haps willing to concede something, why could there not be found a 
way out? If all the rulers, including Albert of Belgium and Sir 
Edward Grey, would but ponder prayerfully these great Shakespearean 
lines : 

I charge thee, fling away ambition; 

By that sin fell angels. 

Love thyself last; cherish those hearts that hate thee, 

Corruption wins not more than honesty. 

Still in thy right hand carry gentle peace, 

To silence envious tongues; be just and fear not. 

Let all the ends thou aim'st at be thy country's. 

Thy God's, and truths. 

Those three wonderful words, embracing the whole of life, death 
and immortality, "Love thyself last," peal forth in beauty and meaning 
above the Christmas chimes. 

27 



II CHANGE TimiD MM. 



January 14, 1915. 

England does look rather decrepit these days, scouring the earth 
for more help still, despite France, Russia, Japan, Servia, Montenegro, 
a lot of dark people, and right here in America the N. Y. "Times," 
whooping it up for John Bull every minute. The partisanship of this 
newspaper seems largely based on the affair of the Belgian treaty ; yet 
England's attitude toward that too much discussed paper is by many 
of her own subjects not accounted sincere — as late communications 
from friends in close touch with the situation frankly admit. The 
British Foreign Office by no means represents the British people. 

Queer, that an American journal should make more of that docu- 
ment than the nation most concerned — except as it serves a political 
purpose to Sir Edward Grey and his colleagues. Nor does it appeal 
to women at all, who in any crisis care infinitely more for the spirit 
than the letter. It is the "spirit" in every act and fact, even a lawyer's 
fact, that makes of it, for good or bad, a vital thing. Germany 
simply did what she had to do at a crucial moment. The fate of the 
nation hung in the balance. 

That famous, if not infamous, editorial, "Peace with Freedom," 
which has been served up to us now, in one form or another, for 
more than a month as regularly as our coffee and rolls — so proud of 
its extraordinary offspring is the "Times" — a well-known Manhattan 
business man speaks of as "at once the most contemptible and also 
the most complimentary article that has been written — contemptible 
for reasons that I need not name, complimentary that it intimates the 
whole world may be required to subjugate poor little Germany. . . 
But they won't do it even then. Germany is going to whip all her 
enemies, no matter who they are, or where they come from, or how 
many there are of them." 

The pendulum is swinging strong and sure. Four months ago we 
were fed almost exclusively on the Anglomaniac press, working over- 
time for a special purpose. The Middle West has been thinking 
soundly all along, also California and the Pacific Coast generally, which 
realizes as the East never can the menace of the alliance between 
England and Japan. But now even in the Eastern States they are be- 
ginning to get a glimpse of the other side of the shield. Out of New 
England, hitherto strongly anti-German, in answer to the succession of 
articles from Labor Day to Christmas in The "Standard Union," 
comes a personal word which is of value not only because it is typi- 
cal, but because it has the courage to confess a change of heart : "As 

28 



to your anti-England letters, at first I thought you were crazy, but 
as time goes on I feel differently. England is a pig— a selfish pig— 
and I suppose deep in her heart she hates us for licking her. That 
is only human. You know Will A. always has said he shouldn't die 
happy till he licked Murray W.— because Murray licked him at the 
high school. And as the individual, so the nation, in many respects. 
Certainly Germany is getting far more sympathy than she did at 
first. I can't argue much, but I wish to goodness the war 
would end before we get drawn in." 

No doubt every one of the nations would be glad of peace- 
Germany most of all; for the very heart and genius of the empire, 
and the temperament of its people, are pacific. Peace is the breath 
of life to that prosperity which has so excited the envy of all. France 
is suffering beyond all precedent, her industries are at a standstill, 
her main male population is at the front; Russia must be thoroughly 
sick of a situation in which she is paying so heavily for what she 
might have got at a bargain ; while England is one mass of appre- 
hension. Yet if peace is mentioned ever so lightly, each denies the 
soft impeachment violently, as if it were a crime instead of the 
greatest blessing on earth, and so those weak of knee or full of 
passion and pride frustrate the universal desire. 

The earth is torn with grief and strife, 
Each loves his own, each gives his life. 
Out of the dark of the new-born year, 
Grim desolation far and near. 
The Father speaks In accents grave: 
"No one Is right, if all are brave. 
Pray not to hold the winning hand, 
But pray night and day to Understand. 
Through Pity bring this war's release — 
Pity, the one straight road to Peace." 

Looking back but four short months, a move in the right_ direc- 
tion can be perceived. When that startling march on Pans was 
checked, amidst the general outcry for harsh peace terms, England 
clamoring for complete dismemberment, with a specific reference to 
Germany's navy (how confidently all her enemies counted on her early 
overthrow!), only one newspaper, the N. Y. "Evening Post," which 
our conscience pricks us for once dubbing the Almighty's special 
envoy, had the humanity to remind us that "Germany's great- 
ness as a nation is a priceless possession for the world"; that "any 
unnecessary humiliation would be a crime not only against her but 
against civilization itself." u c * 

Germany may yet have the courage and the nerve to be first 
in peace as first in Belgium — that Belgium which no longer 
serves as a bulwark for England's front door; but it is safe to 
predict there will be no peace requiring relinquishment of the 
misled kingdom which, balked in a more kindly intent, she has 
won by every rule of war. Except for Bismarck Prussia never was 
good at diplomacy, the weapon of old, sophisticated nations rather 
than those in the heyday of their youth and vigor. Needing 
colonies with her rapidly increasing population far more than 

29 



France with a stationary census, Germany found herself out- 
generaled at Morocco and again in the Balkan settlement, so 
unjust to all concerned. No wonder, then, that in 1914, with a 
just cause turned unexpectedly into a battle for her own existence, 
she trusted no more to wily confabs, but to her strong right arm and 
her sharpened sword. It would be fine, of course, to become a great 
example; to refrain from the pitiless ambition, the unmeasured cruelty, 
which has enabled England to attain her imperial ends — but alas! 
the most conscientious nation, no more than the most virtuous indi- 
vidual, is free from human failings. 

That one grateful friend of Germany, made little of to date, may 
yet prove a deciding factor in the war, is the opinion of a high mili- 
tary authority. Turkey, which no less than Ireland has had such 
good cause to hate England, so long making the defenseless position 
of both subserve her own evil designs, has now, like the slowly 
pcisoned husband in Hichens' "Bella Donna," obtained freedom from 
the baleful spell, and a new lease of life. Why shouldn't the Turk 
throw off his deadly opiate? Why has he not as good a right to 
live and thrive as any other human? Certainly the Ottoman is as 
well educated, better bred and far more interesting than most Eng- 
lishmen. He is brave, too, and just now admirably disciplined as a 
soldier, intensely in earnest as to this war, and with the will to do or 
die. The Turk has all the Oriental's contempt of death; he is no 
worshiper, like every Briton, of the mere dollar; his inner self is 
stirred by enthusiasm and deepened by mysticism — that expression 
of the "fourth dimension" which places its subject above and beyond 
all. And of this attractive compound there is no finer example than 
that flower of the Turkish military — Enver Bey. 

Recent patriotic suggestions as to cotton are rather disturbing. 
One is willing to buy a bale, or even a cargo, if finances permit; 
but a cotton handkerchief — well, there we draw the line! 



30 



SIDEIIGHTS ON THE WIR. 



January 28, 1915. 

For those whose vision is not obscured by the actual bloodshed, 
exclusive absorption in which might easily lead to insanity, some 
minor phases of the war are full of meaning. Not conspicuous in the 
newspapers, often passing only from man to man, they yet perform a 
distinct service in illuminating the whole. One keen observer, fresh 
from Vienna, though a neutral, refutes utterly the frequent assertions 
that Austria-Hungary is either about to sue for peace (which we all 
wish they all were) or in a state of disaffection. After special and 
prolonged investigation on the ground, this searcher after truth 
announces in no uncertain tones that the heterogeneous populations 
of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy are almost unanimous in support 
of the war; that the incessant and dangerous agitation of Servia was 
universally recognized as a menace to be met only by arms; that the 
great body of the country folk are devoted to the throne and the 
empire; that only those who recently have traveled in Austria can 
form any idea of the radical change from criticism of Germany to 
passionate enthusiasm for her; that the perpetual party squabbles 
among the Magyars are not serious evidence of a general movement 
to wreck imperial unity, and that despite the recent retreats there is 
no lessening of confidence in the final triumph of the Austrian 
armies. 

All this is directly in line with private advices from the Balkan 
States, particularly Roumania, whom Russia is determined to press 
into her service, now that she has one foot in little Bukowina, which 
only whets her appetite for more. In every land there are jingoes; 
so among Roumania's leaders some are spoiling for a fight to "res- 
cue" their brothers in Transylvania — those former Roumanian sub- 
jects who, under Austrian rule, are enjoying something like pros- 
perity for the first time in their existence, and who gladly join 
Austria against Russia to secure themselves in their belated well- 
being. While politicians plot and poets sing to recover the lost ter- 
ritory, the clear voice of the noted Roumanian scholar, patriot and 
socialist, Dobrogeanu-Gherea, calls attention to the folly and unreason 
of attempting territorial aggrandizement when the internal troubles 
of Roumania as to the land and the peasantry are not unlike those of 
Mexico. How can she, Gherea asks, dream of conquest of other 
countries with her own vital problems unsolved? As an attraction 
for Transylvania, he says, "we have a peasantry which can but anger 

31 



the true patriot." He lives in a hovel, eats only "mamaliga," a poor 
polenta, suffers from pellagra, gets no education and has no political 
rights, though "he sustains with his calloused hands the heavy edifice 
of the State — an abject creature, beaten to his knees by the oligarchy 
which exploits him without mercy." 

This oligarchy rules a people among the most immoral in the 
world. King Ferdinand seems of no account, but Queen Marie, it is 
said, is worldly enough for two. It was she who when asked some 
months ago which side of the war she was on answered promptly: 
"The strongest, of course." She must be lying awake nights to 
determine which this may be; but there is Russia constantly at hand 
to jog her elbow, though the industrious Buxtons, each with a Turk- 
ish bullet in his inside, have returned to England. Before tackling 
Roumania these British agents were besieging Bulgaria, to induce her 
to trust to Russian and English promises again, after drinking her 
fill of such delusions. Her betrayal first by her brother Servia, 
next by her sister Roumania, and finally by the Entente, let us hope 
will not occur for the fourth time in three years. 

One of her most ardent patriots. Rev. A. S. Tsanoff, of Philip- 
opolis, contributes to a leading journal of Sofia, the "Dnovick," an 
article which must have made the Buxtons and M. Savinsky, the 
Russian Minister, wince. From his appeal to the Government not to 
trust the offers to restore Macedonia and Dobrudja, if Bulgaria would 
join the Triple Entente, a few lines are here translated: 

"Why did they not come to Sofia last year and counsel our allies 
into moderation ? Why is it necessary to bleed Bulgaria white again 
for the liberation of that Macedonia which the Greeks and Servians 
took away from us? Why should we fight for Russia, who forced 
Roumania to attack and paralyze our arms at a time when we had 
the Greeks and Servians on the run? Why did not England come 
into the Aegean and stop by force the violation of the treaty of 
London, which had been guaranteed by Sir Edward Grey and all the 
chancellories only a few months before? Why should M. Savinsky 
expect Bulgaria to trust to his promises when Russia violated her 
own treaty obligations?" 

Russia and England break their word whenever conveni- 
ent, but they watch Bulgaria like a hawk lest she disregard 
the pound-of-flesh Bucharest settlement, which deprived her of a 
great slice of her native soil — and they seek the death of Germany 
when she heeds not a dusty agreement in a time of urgent need. One 
angry Bulgarian just now in America cries out : "The whole present 
most damnable war would never have come to pass had Servia 
respected her treaty with Bulgaria and the Balkan alliance remained 
intact. Servia chose to play with fire, three great Powers backed 
her up, and now they are reaping the whirlwind." 

It may be mentioned here, as adding to the gaiety of nations, 
that Servia objects to the spelling of her name with a "v," for that 
means "one who serves." She wants to be Serbia, which implies 
something fiercer. Yet "service," devotion to mankind, is the new 

32 



watchword of the New World. However, Servia serves not God or 
Man, but the Devil! 

Constantine Stephanove, another ardent patriot, writes to an 
American friend from his home in Sofia: "The great Powers are 
vying with each other to win us over. I cannot understand how 
France and Russia and England are so persistent and insistent, 
a-praying in Sofia that Bulgaria help Servia and the Entente. Why 
don't they do that in Athens and Bucharest, the capitals of the allies 
of Servia? Why urge Bulgaria to join in the conflict when she 
almost bled to death in the recent war? That very fact shows they 
are not her friends." 

Of course they are not! They are friends only of themselves, 
ruthlessly pursuing even the smallest nations, who by obeying them 
have nothing to gain and everything to lose. To urge Bulgaria to 
join a circle including Servia, that political outlaw which ought to be 
wiped off the map, is like begging a woman to marry her near-mur- 
derer! With all its imposing string of names, the Entente and its 
Allies seem pitiable objects, searching the highways and byways for 
further aid, soliciting help from door to door. In this drumming up 
of the nations, after the manner of the persistent "pullers-in" of cheap 
clothing shops, could there be a more heady tribute to Germany or a 
franker confession of weakness at home? 

Gone forever is England's splendid isolation on which she prided 
herself. "Such pride," writes a prominent Bulgarian, "belongs to you, 
the United States, and may it never abandon you." 'Tis to be feared 
it will, however, if more diplomatists are sent abroad like the new one 
to Bulgaria, who when granted an audience the other day at Sofia by 
the Tzar, simply thrust out his hand and said: "Well, King, how are 
you?" and the moment he was seated crossed his legs! 

Italy should think twice before selling her birthright for a mess of 
pottage. As for France, the one of all her fair provinces which was 
never rightfully her own is the one her heart is most set on. Alsace- 
Lorraine (Elsass-Lothringen Germany wants it called) in fact as in 
feeling is and always was fundamentally German. For nearly eleven 
centuries this has been so in spite of the French domination from 
Louis XIV. to the third Napoleon. Long before 1870 the Alsatian, 
with his heavy figure and homely manner, was the butt of French 
jokes — they never took him in as a brother. The national character- 
istics persisted throughout the two centuries under alien rule, and 
there are no better German patriots than those on the left bank of the 
Rhine, many of whom are fighting valiantly for the Fatherland. If, 
therefore, on the western border a few French malcontents still stay 
to stir up trouble, why not pass around the hat for the worth of their 
properties, and present them all to France, body and soul, with thanks 
for the relief. 

If France and England were as sincere as they are vociferous in 
their championship of human freedom they might view the recent ac- 
tions of their ally, Russia, with some concern. She has swept away the 
last vestige of Finnish independence; though thousands upon thou- 

33 



sands of her despised Jews are honorably fighting the Czar's battles, 
their families in Poland, overrun by both armies, are in far greater 
distress than Belgium and denied the elementary right of 
escape — while the courageous patriotism of Bourtseff, leaving his 
safe retreat in Paris to rally Russian revolutionists to the colors, she 
rewards by clapping into jail! 

The same old Russia, with all her promises and proclamations, 
bent only on extending her autocracy to the Adriatic, to the Mediter- 
ranean and ultimately to the Atlantic Ocean. 

"Vanity of vanities," saith the preacher, "all is vanity." 



34 






The wife of an Englishman whose father was for many years 
member of Parliament writes Jan. 7, 1915: 

"I have many times longed to talk with you since the war began. 
I should so much like to know the prevailing opinion in the United 
States, for one cannot trust what one sees in the papers here. You 
will perhaps be surprised to learn that I am not shocked at your 
taking the German side. I don't myself very well see how outsiders 
can help it, at least in feeling sympathy for them even if they do not 
take sides. For my part, I hope and pray that the neutral countries 
will not take us at our own very righteous valuation of ourselves 
and our cause. But perhaps there is no danger. 

"Of course Belgium is pure chicanery. Not that the bulk of the 
best of those who have joined the colours know that. They don't, 
but believe, or did believe when they enlisted, that that was the real 
issue. My own feeling is and has been all along that we are as 
responsible for the destruction of Belgium as is Germany — rather 
more so. The sacrifice of Belgium by both Great Britain and France 
is, I believe, one of the lowest and most unscrupulous 'episodes,' I 
think they call them, in our history. And one is coming to face the 
fact that there have been many pretty low ones, and that they have 
all been tending in one direction, as indeed they must, 

"The root stock of the war is an absolutely unscrupulous cap- 
italism. There are thirteen million people in this country who have 
not enough to eat, and these same people are fighting the battles 
which lead to still further degradation of labour, in the coercion with 
impunity of the 'little peoples.' It began for us with India, then 
Egypt; then, to buy off France, protecting her in the same course 
at Morocco — and all the time it was leading up to this. 

"For my own part, I hope no one will win, I don't want Ger- 
many to triumph, I cannot believe that such a conclusion would be 
good for the world, but equally I hope she will not be beaten. For 
though she has been openly cruel, I think she is the most honest and 
straightforward of the lot. After all, open cruelty is open and is far 
less dishonourable than secret, unscrupulous cruelty, which would hide 
itself behind a many-coloured cloak of righteousness. As for Russia, 
one just never thinks of honour in connection with her as a govern- 
ment and a policy. 

"The greatest good that could come out of the war would be 
that it should awaken the people all over the world, who believe them- 
selves Christians, to face the fact that we are no whit better than 
pagans. I hope the neutral countries will on no account see Germany 
'beaten to her knees,' even if we could perform the feat, which 1 
doubt; and I do hope they will do their utmost to help us to a truly 
right settlement. This I am certain cannot come if it is left to the 

35 



diplomatists. A great world awakening to the truth that war is and 
always must be a denial of Christ, would be a great step forward; and 
if in that stride they come to realize that a system which permits the 
grinding of the face of the poor is also a denial of Christ, we shall 
indeed have gone far. 

"You cannot think how thankful we are that you have a President 
who has set his face against war. The greatest calamity that could 
befall the world now would be that the United States on any pretext 
should be drawn in." 



MORE TRym FRO 




A British subject in high standing writes Jan. 18, 1915: 

"Most human beings in their selfish unreason just now should 
be called savages. They condemn Germany, who may have been 
wrong in declaring war, but they ignore the fact that at the bottom 
of all this uproar about atrocities and scraps of paper is the unsup- 
portable jealousy of the British Bulldog. His perfidy causes all tne 
misery in the world. As long as he lives, we shall never know 
peace. In time he will fight not only France and Russia, but his 
cousins in America, who will be caught like a nut in the cracker 
between England and Japan. 

"Germany is a complete stranger to me; I have no interest that 
she should win in this struggle and England lose; indeed, I might 
forfeit my property if this should happen — but conscience overrules 
all worldly considerations. It seems a shame to endorse the nations 
who join themselves to the yellow races and the black; I believe 
they would bring beasts to help them if they could — as they have 
the thousand tongues of printed words to fill the world with calumny 
about their enemy, whose fault it is to fight bravely and nobly 
against all this and keep the hounds at bay. 

"That makes my heart beat for Germany. Who not barbarously 
selfish can feel otherwise? If we see a lion tortured by many dogs 
from all quarters, it is mere instinct to help him in spite of the 
danger incurred. 

"'Reading history for the past century and more, we see how 
England has used others for her benefit, and this war is exactly the 
same. At this moment several nations are willing to make peace, 
but this the British Dog will not permit until he becomes the upper- 
dog. What matter if thousands of innocent lives are sacrificed and 
the whole world suffers? 

"The most unfortunate part of it is that the very bark of the 
Bulldog makes outsiders tremble. So much so that they forget to be 
just and become mere dupes. Is this worthy of the American 



nation?" 



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